The Forgotten Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 6)

Chapter 15.2

No alarms were audible, but Sabrina and Ford had to assume their escape had not gone unnoticed. Anxious to avoid recapture, Sabrina pushed a wall of air in front of them, hoping to knock any Kyan off its feet before it could react. The tactic worked with the first one they met; it was knocked backwards just as they rounded the corner, giving Sabrina a chance to throw a bolt of energy its way. It jerked, then went still, ominous wisps of smoke curling out of its joints.

"Okay, this isn't so hard," Ford said, slightly out of breath, as they paused. "Next time can you get the stunner before you fry it?"

"I'm not sure I'm up to special requests yet," Sabrina replied, panting. "Come on."

"Wait." Ford cocked his head, and she could feel the echo of what his sensitive hearing picked up: several pairs of metal feet approaching quickly. "Can you get that door open?"

Sabrina concentrated, and a moment later the door wrenched itself free of its frame and toppled to the floor with a resounding clang.

"I meant," Ford said, "so that we could close it behind us."

"Oh." Sabrina picked another door and focused on making it move sideways. It slid open reluctantly, and she and Ford dashed through. It closed automatically behind them, just in time.
"Do you want it permanently sealed?" she asked.

"No. It doesn't do us any good to escape if we lock ourselves in yet another room," Ford said. "Stand there and blast anything that comes through. I'll have a look around for something useful." After a moment, he added, "Er—some light would help."

Sabrina waved a hand irritably at the light panel on the ceiling, and it flickered to life. "I don't know how much more of this we can throw around. You're not glowing anymore."

"I noticed," he said. "Just stay focused. And get a weapon if you can manage." His voice faded as he wandered farther away. Sabrina resisted the urge to look and see what he was doing, trying to listen for noise in the corridor that would indicate someone was about to come through the door.

"I found another door. I'm going to try it," he called to her after a few minutes.

"Don't go too far. We don't know how close we have to be for the energy transfer to work."

"Links aren't distance-dependent," Ford reminded her. She heard the faint whoosh of a door sliding open, and then she was alone in the room. Her heart pounded in sudden terror until she felt him reach out through the link to reassure her.

Something clanked against the door, and Sabrina pushed hard with her mind to keep it closed, backing away. Then she turned and ran for the door Ford had gone through, releasing the main one once she was safely through.

"I think there's a whole maze of rooms back here," Ford said as she arrived. "Seal that door, would you?"

Sabrina did so, melting it into the wall. "Where are we headed? The bridge?"

"We need to find whatever's jamming our access to the Crystal and disable it. I doubt it's on the bridge; maybe engineering. Or a lab. No way to know, really."

"This looks a bit like a lab," Sabrina observed. "Do you think we'd have any luck traveling the air ducts?"

"I think that would just give us less room to maneuver," Ford said. "Come on, there's another door through here."

Sabrina glanced at the worktable with various containers of liquids, but she didn't have time to guess what they were for as she passed. The next lab, however, proclaimed its purpose immediately.

"Oh my God!" Sabrina slapped a hand over her mouth and nose, gagging at the stench of decay. On the table in front of her, various recognizable body parts, including an entire forearm with hand and fingers, were attached in varying degrees to electronic components.